Page 30 - TPA Journal May June 2024

Joe C. Tooley, Legal Digest Editor
Joe C. Tooley, Attorneys & Counselors, Rockwall, Texas
www.TooleyLaw.com 972-722-1058

TEXAS POLICE ASSOCIATION

LEGAL DIGESTMay - June 2024

AUTHOR’S NOTE: It is the goal of this submission to extract those portions of relevant appellate
opinions or the syllabus of the legal reporter which bear directly upon law enforcement methods
and provide guidance for officers on an operational level. Much of the information pertaining to
these cases is lifted verbatim from the court opinion or syllabus with independent analysis inserted
as appropriate. Due to clarity for training purposes, the distinction between quotes from the
opinions and inserted analysis is not always identified and legal citations within the opinion are
often omitted. Emphasis is placed upon reported decisions from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

EVIDENCE – self defense employed as a public defender in Choctaw
Tribal Court. Because we find no error in the
This is an appeal of convictions related to the court’s rulings on Appellant’s sufficiency of the
shooting of Julian McMillan by Mike Anderson evidence challenge or on his recusal motion,
following an argument in Conehatta, we AFFIRM his convictions and sentence.
Mississippi, part of the Choctaw Indian
Reservation. Anderson was convicted after a In June 2021, Appellant was charged in a six-
jury trial of assault with a dangerous weapon count indictment with: assault with a firearm
and assault resulting in serious bodily injury, in with intent to commit murder on the Choctaw
violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 113 and 1153, as well Indian Reservation, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153 and
as using a gun during and in relation to a crime 113(a)(1) (Count 1); assault with a firearm with
of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § intent to do bodily injury on the Choctaw Indian
924(c)(1)(A)(iii). Defendant-Appellant Mike Reservation, §§ 1153 and 113(a)(3) (Counts 2
Anderson contends that (1) the district court and 5); assault resulting in serious bodily injury
erred in finding that the prosecution produced on the Choctaw Indian Reservation, §§ 1153
sufficient evidence at trial for the jury to return and 113(a)(6) (Count 3); using a firearm during
guilty verdicts, despite the district court’s self- and in furtherance of a crime of violence, §
defense instruction, and (2) the district court 924(c)(1)(A)(iii) (Count 4); and brandishing a
inappropriately denied Anderson’s pretrial firearm in relation to a crime of violence, §
motion to recuse the lead prosecutor … and the 924(c)(1)(A)(ii) (Count 6). After a three-day trial,
entire United States Attorney’s Office … due to a jury convicted Appellant of Counts 2, 3, and
Payne’s representation of Anderson and his 4 on October 5, 2022. On January 27, 2023,
father on different occasions while he was the district court entered a judgment sentencing

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